My younger brother Zhuge Liang

Chapter 559 Who is the hero of the world?

There has never been a major battle in human history that can be fought completely according to the pre-war plan.

Even if the war planner of one side was a wise man like the brothers Zhuge Jin and Zhuge Liang, they could not do it.

Therefore, the ideas and directions set by Zhuge Liang before the war could only be to find opportunities and loopholes on Cao Cao's side little by little during the actual combat process, and then to implement them according to circumstances when the time was right.

Pang Tong suggested that Zhang Fei rhythmically resist layer by layer and defend flexibly, so as to consume Cao Cao and force him to reveal his flaws during the successive retreats. This was the best implementation of this idea.

Sun Tzu said: Those who were good at fighting in the past first made themselves invincible, waiting for the enemy to be defeated. The invincibility lies in oneself, and the victory lies in the enemy.

Do your best, don't show any flaws, and create opportunities again and again, that is to make yourself "invincible (cannot be defeated)". As for whether the enemy has exposed "victorious (can be defeated)", that is decided by Cao Cao, and neither Zhuge Liang nor Pang Tong can do it for you.

Now, Cao Cao wanted to take a risky route and was eager to send a messenger to contact Xiahou Yuan and make a plan to divide his troops and attack from both sides. This was when Cao Cao finally revealed his weakness and for the first time, he disclosed his "winnability" to Liu Bei's side.

In this case, how could Liu Bei’s army, which had waited for so long, miss such an opportunity?
……

The day after Cao's scouts were captured, the tug-of-war on the front battlefield was still going on.

Zhang Fei got Pang Tong's advice. In order to better implement the plan of luring the enemy, he had to further speed up the retreat.

The defense line that Zhang Fei abandoned the day before was only a valley a few miles deep. Today he planned to give up more than ten miles at a time, and he could maintain this speed tomorrow.

According to this progress, he will retreat to the Yangping Pass camp in three days at most and join forces with Gan Ning.

Of course, the plan Pang Tong made for him did not require retreating for three consecutive days.

Before the battle, Zhang Fei was still a little worried, so he asked Pang Tong: "Our army only retreated three or four miles yesterday. If we retreat more than ten miles at once today, won't it be too weak and let Cao Cao see the flaw? Cao Cao and Guo Jia are very suspicious."

Pang Tong assured him: "Don't worry, there is a reason why we retreated so quickly. Just like the metaphor Ziyu said back then: Those who are as powerful as breaking bamboo will be easily solved after a few sections.

How could we set up camps and defenses along the Chencang Valley Road? How could we make them as solid as the first line of defense? The subsequent lines of defense were crudely built, with low walls and shallow pits, so it was normal that they would be abandoned at the first touch.

And this is exactly the effect we want - just imagine, the purpose of our temporary retreat is to seize the opportunity, confirm that the enemy's troops are divided, and then counterattack. Since our army's plan is to switch from defense to offense, for Cao Cao, it will be a matter of switching from offense to defense.

At this critical moment before the transition, we must ensure that the positions lost in the final stage are not strong. Even if they are captured by Cao's army, Cao's army will not be able to use them after switching from offense to defense. If it is like yesterday's camp, Cao's army can immediately use our defense line after capturing it, then we will be making things difficult for ourselves, right? "

When Zhang Fei heard this consideration, he finally understood everything.

Indeed, Liu Bei's army is now at a critical moment of transition from offense to defense. At this time, they must ensure that they leave some broken positions to the enemy. In this way, when they counterattack, they can attack the enemy who happens to be standing on the broken ground.

The flexible defenses of later generations were also fought in this way.

Although Pang Tong did not know the war history of later generations, with his keen insight, he could still vaguely see the common principles among them.

Moreover, this kind of retreat had to be relatively fast to prevent Cao Cao's troops from occupying and repairing the place. If Zhang Fei still retreated three or four miles a day, then even if he caused thorough destruction and turned the place into a scorched earth, Cao Cao would have time to use his own manpower to repair the place and advance step by step.

But if he retreated twenty miles a day, Cao Cao would not have time.

……

After Zhang Fei thoroughly absorbed this guiding ideology, his retreat and defense on that day naturally became more and more skillful and sophisticated in execution.

Because the time required to fight on each simple defense line was shorter, Zhang Fei's side suffered fewer casualties, and the exchange between them and Cao's army was more exciting.

When each simple defense line was abandoned, the pits left on the ground were almost filled up, and the only rammed earth walls were turned into piles of mud, leaving not an inch of useful defensive fortifications for Cao Cao.

After retreating and defending for about a morning, with the three simple defense lines being abandoned, Zhang Fei's army had retreated a total of nearly ten miles.

According to the plan that Pang Tong had set for him yesterday, an important fork in the road on the north and south sides of the valley, which were deliberately left to Cao's army for occupation, were also successfully handed over to Cao's army in this process.

Of course, when giving up those positions, Zhang Fei still pretended to fight hard. His acting skills were very good. He did not just give up.

Pang Tong also observed from afar the actions and performance of Cao's army when they occupied these forks in the valley.

Time passed noon quickly. Perhaps because it was too hot in early July of the lunar calendar, Cao's army could not withstand the continuous advance and took a short rest for an hour in the afternoon, as if they were planning to wait until the sun set and it was not so hot before continuing the attack.

Zhang Fei and Pang Tong also took this opportunity to take a lunch break and review the game to see if there was any need to fine-tune their tactics.

Zhang Fei had just taken two gulps of the cold wine when Pang Tong came up to him with the sketch he had just drawn that morning and gave him instructions:
"The ten-mile-long valley that our army abandoned this morning has a fork in the road on each of the north and south sides, which can be called a throat.

The fork on the north side is a dead end after more than 20 miles to the north and east, and the army cannot march any further. However, a few warriors who are good at climbing can directly cross the mountain and enter the Hanzhong Basin. This is the bait road we discussed last night and took the initiative to give to Cao Cao to contact Xiahou Yuan.

I see that at 9:00 this morning, after Cao's army occupied the entrance to the forked valley, they sent troops to the forked road to guard and scout. It should take less than a day or two for them to discover our "gift". So, we can calculate the time and make a one-shot deal to try to kill a wave of messengers.

In addition, there is also a fork in the road on the south slope of the main valley, which is also very important. It was also given to Cao Cao this morning. As far as I know, after going south for 20 to 30 miles along this fork, there is also a dead end. But it can also cross the extremely dangerous and steep road to the outside of Yang'an Pass where the lord camped.

I had previously suggested that we give this fork to Cao Cao, in order to test how familiar Cao's army was with the surrounding geography and how they would deal with it. Now it seems that Cao Cao really knows what he is doing. As soon as he occupied the valley entrance, he divided his troops to block the road, and also had people set up deer horns on the front line and dig up earth to build piles.

From this move, we can judge that Cao's army knew the potential of this valley, so they wanted to block the valley entrance in advance to prevent our army from taking advantage of the mountain troops and attacking their flanks from this branch valley in the future. "

Zhang Fei had been listening very carefully. Seeing Pang Tong's insightful analysis and conclusion, he felt a little regretful, but at the same time he could understand:

"After all, Cao Cao had conquered Zhang Lu and established a foothold in Hanzhong. It is not surprising that his staff knew the local situation to this extent.

It's a pity that our army's hope to use these valleys to deploy the Bantun Barbarians and Danyang soldiers to flank Cao's army in the subsequent counterattack and decisive battle has become impossible."

As Zhang Fei spoke, he couldn't help but sigh.

He has fought many battles in the mountains since last year and has gained more and more experience.

Therefore, Zhang Fei summed up an important experience without any guidance: the key to victory in large-scale combat in narrow mountainous terrain is to expand one's own offensive front so that more troops can be deployed in the battle at the same time.

Because the valley of Chencang Road was too narrow, no matter how many hundreds of thousands of troops there were on both sides, only a few hundred or a thousand would actually be fighting in the front at any given moment. The remaining 99% of the troops were actually waiting in line at the back to rest.

If at this time, one side can expand the offensive front, or the contact area between the two sides during the attack, so that more of its own soldiers can attack at the same time, this will create a huge advantage.

Therefore, it is very important to find opportunities to ambush troops on both sides of the valley, or to make detours and flank attacks. Only in this way can the attack surface of one's side be greatly increased in a short period of time, allowing more troops to output damage at the same time.

In history, Zhang Fei's many victories over Cao's army in Yizhou, especially his victory over Zhang He, also had this factor at work. During the battle, Zhang Fei suddenly used mountain soldiers to appear on Zhang He's flank, attacking from multiple sides, which directly stunned Zhang He.

However, as Pang Tong said just now: through this morning's observation, he has confirmed that Cao Cao and Guo Jia are not stupid. They are also resourceful, cautious, and familiar with the terrain of the hundred miles around Yangping Pass.

Therefore, once Cao's army occupies a fork in the road that is suspected to be used by Liu Bei's army in the future, they will immediately guard it tightly and block it, not giving you the opportunity to launch a surprise attack by crossing the mountain from that fork in the road.

As a result, the tactics that Zhang Fei used to defeat Zhang He repeatedly in history cannot be used here.

It seemed that there was no disturbance in the confrontation between the two sides, but in fact, they had already fought for one round. Zhang Fei and Pang Tong tested the enemy's vigilance, and the enemy also defended.

……

After listening to Pang Tong's analysis, Zhang Fei thought that he would not gain much during the lunch break. The information he had learned in the morning was just another unsuccessful attempt to "find the enemy's weaknesses."

However, after explaining the basic situation, Pang Tong did not stop there, but added another "but".

He then changed the subject: "Yide, don't be discouraged. Although we have tested the waters and found that Cao Cao and Guo Jia are indeed cautious, there is a limit to how cautious they are. We can't be cautious forever. I have carefully observed the enemy's deployment and found a new flaw. This new flaw is much smaller than the old one we expected at the beginning, and it is much more difficult to exploit, but it is by no means completely unexploitable."

Zhang Fei, who had been depressed for two days, finally brightened up again: "Oh? If you have a plan, tell me now. No matter how small a mosquito is, it is still meat. The enemy is too cautious. We will catch as many as we can."

Pang Tong picked up his fan and pointed to the mountains on the south side of the valley: "We retreated all the way this morning, and we gave up more than one fork in the south slope. The one blocked by Cao's army is only the deepest one among them, which can actually lead to Yang'an Pass.

There were two other much smaller valley entrances, and Cao Cao did not even send troops to block them, nor did he conduct in-depth searches. "Zhang Fei was stunned, and subconsciously looked in the direction that Pang Tong's fan pointed.

Of course, he knew that the terrain that Pang Tong described was common throughout the entire Chencang Road. Anyone familiar with the Qinling terrain should know that in this kind of mountain that stretches for hundreds of miles,

There are actually many branching paths, and there must be a gap in the ridge every few miles. But the problem is that most of the gaps are meaningless, not deep enough, and are dead ends. Moreover, dead ends are also divided into different levels. The ends of some dead ends are particularly steep, and it is impossible to cross to Yang'an Pass.

The two positions Pang Tong just pointed out are typical examples of "because the road was cut off too early, it is impossible to reach Yang'an Pass, and even the barbarian soldiers with shields cannot do it."

It was impossible for Cao's army to set up defenses everywhere, so they could only focus on the big ones and let the small ones go. They would not send troops to such terrain that posed no threat.

Zhang Fei thought this was normal.

So he immediately asked, "So what? There are too many small gaps on the south slope of Chencang Road. There is no need to guard against all of them, and it is impossible to guard against them all."

Pang Tong seemed to be waiting for him to say this. As soon as Zhang Fei finished speaking, he smiled slyly, "Even Yide, a famous general who is good at mountain warfare, thinks so. No wonder Cao Cao, Guo Jia and Xu Huang also think so.

Indeed, these gaps are too shallow and the ends are too steep, and they cannot lead to Yang'an Pass in any way. Therefore, it is impossible for our army to send mountain troops from Yang'an Pass to cross here to attack the flank of Cao's army in the future.

However, what if we had no plan to send out troops from Yang'an Pass from the beginning, but instead sent some ambush troops to these gaps in advance and hide there for a few days while our army was retreating?
After our front-line troops switch from retreat to counterattack, these ambush troops will suddenly rush out and, together with the main front-line forces, attack Cao's army from three sides. Then, will it be possible that Cao's vanguard troops will be cut off by us?
In other words, our ambush troops were not sent from the rear when we were about to attack. Instead, they were sent out to the mountainous areas on both sides at the same time as our troops retreated one by one. When we retreated, we did not really withdraw all of them, but withdrew 70% to 80% and left 20% to 30% behind. "

Zhang Fei naturally understood it immediately: "Isn't it just like fighting in the mountains, feigning defeat to lure the enemy? First, set up an ambush in the mountains on both sides, and then the front troops retreat one by one, luring the enemy into the ambush circle, and then the ambush troops will move out together? Eh? Such a simple tactic, why didn't Cao Cao guard against it?"

As Zhang Fei thought about it, he suddenly felt that he was a little blind. Cao Cao had prevented such a high-level risk, so why didn't he prevent such a common problem? The key was why didn't he think of it at the beginning?
Fortunately, Pang Tong had thought it through thoroughly before he opened his mouth, and he immediately explained his confusion to him: "This is not surprising, because our tactics are very different from setting up a pocket formation and feigning defeat to lure the enemy.

Normally, when faking a defeat to lure the enemy, they would not lure them so far in depth or for such a long time. Normally, they would lure them for a few hours at most. In this way, the ambushers buried on the slope would not need to be hidden for too long, and there would be no need to worry about being exposed. Ordinary soldiers could also be used to ambush.

This time, we may have to retreat 40 miles deep, and the retreat will be completed in two or three days. Who would have thought that we would have the courage to leave a few weak ambush troops in a deadly situation less than ten miles away from the enemy and completely isolated from friendly forces, and the ambush would last at least two full days?

If Cao's army had carefully searched the short forked valleys in the past two days, wouldn't they have discovered our ambushes? Once discovered, these ambushes would have no way to retreat, and if they had to fight against the enemy army on their own, they would be defeated one by one.

Therefore, it is extremely risky to do so. It is necessary to have favorable conditions, favorable time, favorable terrain and favorable people to set up an ambush. It is not surprising that Cao Cao could not foresee this. If our army really wants to do this, we must make good use of the Bantun Man generals and Danyang soldiers.

Because only the soldiers of the Bantun Barbarians and the most elite Danyang soldiers could hide on the steep slopes of such a fork valley for a whole day or two! If other soldiers were not able to hide their tracks firmly in the mountains, they would end up destroying themselves. "

After Pang Tong pointed out this key point, Zhang Fei finally breathed a sigh of relief and no longer felt that Cao Cao was "lax in guarding."

Indeed, Cao Cao did not have the energy to guard against everything, so he could only put aside these small risks that seemed the most unlikely and incredible.

It is indeed very difficult for us to do this.

This is like the mountain soldiers under your command, who must be as good at hiding as the Vietnamese jungle soldiers of later generations, and be able to lie in ambush under the enemy's noses for two days without being discovered. Who among ordinary people can do that?

There is a threshold for this! It's not like playing a chicken game where you can just lie down in the bushes and become the sixth.

Cao Cao's soldiers couldn't do it, and he couldn't think of anyone who could do it and had the courage to do it, so he didn't guard against it, which is reasonable.

After thinking it all through, Zhang Fei finally dared to take a gamble.

"Since Shi Yuan has thought about it so carefully, how can I let go of such a good opportunity! In the process of fighting and retreating in the afternoon, I will gather the elite Bandun Man and Danyang soldiers in the army and spread them to a branch valley on the south slope in advance.

Shi Yuan, please hurry up and ask my brother to transfer the remaining direct subordinates of Wei Yan and Wang Ping. This way, we can ambush another group of troops during our retreat tomorrow.

In addition, tonight we must pay attention to intercepting and hunting down the messenger sent by Cao Cao to contact Xiahou Yuan. As long as we can confirm that Cao's army has split up, we may be able to launch a full-scale counterattack as early as tomorrow afternoon or evening!"

Pang Tong certainly knew what to do, and the two of them had a clear division of labor, one was responsible for calling for help and the other was responsible for frontal defense and troop allocation and deployment.

That afternoon, Zhang Fei and Wu Yi's troops continued according to the original plan, fighting and running while ambushing behind them.

……

As expected, the Cao army on the opposite side did not see the problem so quickly.

Because on that day, Cao's army was still ecstatic about "finally forcing Zhang Fei to retreat and seizing an important fork in the valley on the northern slope of Chencang Road, allowing the messenger to cross the mountain and go around the Hanzhong Basin to contact Xiahou Yuan."

After struggling for several days, Cao Cao was finally able to contact Xiahou Yuan directly.

For this purpose, Cao Cao gathered all the generals in a small group, had a drink with them, and comforted and praised Guo Jia for his good strategy, and Xu Huang and Le Jin for their hard work and courage in fighting.

Cao Cao encouraged everyone while drinking: "If it weren't for your dedication and wisdom, I wouldn't have been able to reconnect with Miaocai so quickly. You are all meritorious officials!
After a few days, I will find out the current situation of Miaocai. After a while, Wenlie's troops will arrive through Baoxiadao to help. Then I can join forces with Miaocai to defeat Zhang Fei and Gan Ning! Then I will celebrate the great success with you all!"

"The Prime Minister's strategic planning is rare in the world!" Guo Jia, Xu Huang and Le Jin all praised him.

"Well, it's not as good as you said. We must not slack off now!" Cao Cao modestly said, then changed the subject and ordered,
"Oh, by the way, make sure to send someone to deliver the letter to Miaocai tonight! I have already sent someone to scout the terrain. With this road, as long as there are warriors who are good at climbing, they can definitely bypass Zhang Fei and Gan Ning and contact Miaocai!"

Guo Jia immediately took the order, wrote the letter, and assigned elite mountain soldiers to be the messengers to deliver it.

……

Late that night.

Zhang Fei’s camp opposite.

Zhang Fei was sleeping soundly, but Pang Tong woke him up and placed the heads of several elite mountain soldier messengers sent by Guo Jia on Zhang Fei's desk.

Pang Tong said proudly: "Cao Cao really tried to send someone to contact Xiahou Yuan tonight. Fortunately, we deliberately opened that road and set up ambushes everywhere on the cliff top at the head of the road. Cao Cao's messengers were ambushed by us while climbing up and all of them were killed. This is the letter written by Guo Jia to Xiahou Yuan."

When Zhang Fei heard this, he became excited and quickly took it to read. After reading it, he asked someone to travel seventy miles overnight to return to Yang'an Pass to give it to Liu Bei.

At dawn the next day, Liu Bei also received the good news and discussed it with Zhuge Liang.

Zhuge Liang sorted out all the causes and consequences, and finally made a decisive request: "My lord! Don't hesitate! The main force of our army will immediately go north to the Yangping Pass and join forces with Xingba! Let Yide fight and retreat during the day, and when he is about to join forces with Xingba, our army will rush out, turn defense into offense, and fight a decisive battle with Cao thief!

Now is a good time for a decisive battle for three reasons: First, Yide and Shiyuan have taken advantage of the past one or two days of fighting and retreating to lay some ambushes on the southern slope along the retreat route. As long as we switch from defense to offense, these ambushes will be able to rush out and cooperate with us.

Second, these ambushes cannot be hidden for long. If we hesitate for one more day, the risk of them being exposed will be much greater. Once exposed in advance, they may be defeated one by one by Cao's bandits.

Third, from Guo Jia's attempt to contact Xiahou Yuan, it can be seen that Cao Cao was really frightened by our previous bluff. Although the total strength of Cao's army is still 200,000, Xiahou Yuan has nearly 20,000 troops in Hanzhong, Cao Xiu has 30,000 troops on the Baoxiadao Road, and Cao Zhen and others have 30,000 troops to ensure Cao Cao's retreat and in Sanguan Chencang and other places.

Therefore, minus 30,000 troops from two routes and 20,000 troops from one route, the remaining troops that can directly participate in the decisive battle are only 120,000. We must seize the time difference of these few days and take advantage of the division of Cao's army to fiercely counterattack these 120,000 troops.

We should try to severely damage one of Cao's eastern and western armies before they are fully deployed. This way, even if Cao Cao arrives from both directions in the future, his total force will no longer be superior to ours."

Liu Bei stroked his mustache and thought for a while before finally applauding, "Just as you said! Tell my generals that the main force of the army will march north to Xingba's Daokou Camp.

We must arrive before noon. When it is hottest at noon, let the soldiers take a good rest. When Yide lures the enemy there in the afternoon, it will be time for our army to launch a counterattack! "

-

PS: Although it is only the first update, it actually has more than 6,000 words...

Tomorrow is the day when Liu and Cao will meet, so I will resume updating twice a day.

In this life, Liu Bei had never been made homeless by Lu Bu and Yuan Shu, and had never been to Xu Du, so he probably had never worked with Cao Cao for a long time.

The last time they met was probably when Liu Bei went to Xuzhou to rescue Tao Qian (194). Therefore, Liu Bei and Cao Cao had not seen each other for twelve years.

(End of this chapter)